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Cited by 135Embodied and Extended CognitionPhenomenology and Existential PhilosophyCybernetics and Technology in Society

A Demonstration of the Transition from Ready-to-Hand to Unready-to-Hand

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Dotov, Dobromir G., Nie, Lin, Chemero, Anthony·2010·PLoS ONE
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0009433PMC PMC2834739
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Abstract

The ideas of continental philosopher Martin Heidegger have been influential in cognitive science and artificial intelligence, despite the fact that there has been no effort to analyze these ideas empirically. The experiments reported here are designed to lend empirical support to Heidegger's phenomenology and more specifically his description of the transition between ready-to-hand and unready-to-hand modes in interactions with tools. In experiment 1, we found that a smoothly coping cognitive system exhibits type positively correlated noise and that its correlated character is reduced when the system is perturbed. This indicates that the participant and tool constitute a self-assembled, extended device during smooth coping and this device is disrupted by the perturbation. In experiment 2, we examine the re-organization of awareness that occurs when a smoothly coping, self-assembled, extended cognitive system is perturbed. We found that the disruption is accompanied by a change in attention which interferes with participants' performance on a simultaneous cognitive task. Together these experiments show that a smoothly coping participant-tool system can be temporarily disrupted and that this disruption causes a change in the participant's awareness. Since these two events follow as predictions from Heidegger's work, our study offers evidence for the hypothesized transition from readiness-to-hand to unreadiness-to-hand.

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  • These studies show that the dynamic signature of skill development, for instance, of a phenomenological transition from readiness-to-hand to presence-at-hand in tool use, is marked by scale-free correlations across multiple timescales.

    “These studies show that the dynamic signature of skill development, for instance, of a phenomenological transition from readiness-to-hand to presence-at-hand in tool use, is marked by scale-free correlations across multiple timescales .”

    From Toward an Enactive Conception of Productive Practices: Beyond Material Agency (2023) · cites this paper as Dotov et al., 2010

    The Discussion (‘Noise at the Body-Tool Boundary’; page unavailable) reports power-law scaling during skilled tool use and a significant decrease in long-range correlations when the tool was perturbed. But the study examines disrupted performance, not skill development, and describes the transition as ready-to-hand to unready-to-hand; it places unready-to-hand between readiness-to-hand and presence-at-hand rather than demonstrating a transition to presence-at-hand. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Studies on soft assembly in embodied cognitive tasks show that incorporations are not a given but vary with experience.

    “Studies on soft assembly in embodied cognitive tasks show that incorporations are not a given but vary with experience (e.g., Dotov et al., 2010; Anderson et al., 2012; Baber et  al. 2019).”

    From Toward an Enactive Conception of Productive Practices: Beyond Material Agency (2023) · cites this paper as Dotov et al., 2010

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Cited by

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Authors
Dotov, D. G., Nie, L., & Chemero, A.
Affiliations
  • University of Connecticut (US)
  • Franklin & Marshall College (US)
Corresponding author
Chemero, Anthony
ORCID
Venue
PLoS ONE
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Published
2010-03-09
Volume
5
Issue
3
Pages
e9433
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0009433
PMC
PMC2834739
OpenAlex
W2044471023
Cited by
135
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 6
FWCI
5.43
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
University of Connecticut
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Cybernetics and Technology in Society
Keywords
ready-to-hand, Martin Heidegger, phenomenology, tool use, extended cognition, self-assembly, attention, awareness, correlated noise
MeSH terms
Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence, Attention, Behavior, Cognition, Hand, Humans, Motion, Motor Skills, Philosophy, Video Recording, Models, Statistical

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